wild boars at lim chu kang

picture from wikipidea

when i mentioned my sightings - i have seen wild boars on three occasions - to mr lee, a farmer in lim chu kang, he shared with me enthusiastically his experiences with wild boars on his farm and its vicinity.

first saw wild boars here (in lck)

he confessed that he used to trap wild boars with metal cages that he constructed himself. he would have the assistance of his two thai workers and his dogs. the heavy penalties, especially the jail term, has deterred him from carrying on this activity. according to him, you are not even allowed to keep the little wild boar if it happens to stray into your compound. a neighbour of his was fined for keeping a young wild boar which had fallen into one of his ponds.

they used to be so plentiful that he could get four piglet wild boars in one cage. however, he cautioned that it could be a dangerous or even fatal experience if you encounter an enraged sow wild boar. one of his dogs was charged at and gored by a sow wild boar. the dog died.

although some of the wild boars breed locally, quite a number of them come from across the causeway. wild boars are good swimmers and they do not need any flotation device to make the more than one kilometre crossing across the straits of johor. (wonder if mas selamat ran into any sounder of wild boars while swimming to stulang.) mr lee said he had seen as many as twenty-four wild boars making a beach landing at one time.

wild boars usually make their appearance at dusk, especially after a period of heavy rain. out of the three times that i have seen wild boars at lim chu kang, twice they appeared after the rain had stopped.

young wild boar meat is tastier than the meat of domesticated pigs. according to mr lee's wife, you must slaughter them the correct way if you do not want to end up eating meat with an overpowering smell. the female wild boars do not pose any problem; it is the male that you have to exercise care. you have to castrate the two testicles before doing anything else, then the smell will not get to the meat.

the fully-grown wild boars do not give tasty meat. the best meat comes from those that are about 10kg in weight and aged about 5 or 6 months. one of my friends who used to be a regular soldier told me that the commandoes, in their jungle survival training, learn how to slaughter and cook wild boars. wonder if they also know how to get rid of the smell.

according to mr lee, the number of wild boars has decreased over the years because of culling by the authorities. over at ivy singh's bollywood, wild boars have reportedly been spotted in the vicinity.

i have eaten wild boar meat but not in singapore. i had it in my curry noodles in a coffee-shop in kulai, johor. one of my friends used to get to eat wild boar meat when he was serving as an instructor in a leadership camp on tekong island in the early 70s. another friend told us that the meat was sold by his neighbour in his kampong in sembawang.